05
December 1, 2005
The Blue Banner — Sening the Universitv’ of Noith C^arolina at Ashe\ille since 1982
Sports
Page 5
le
^oUeybaD ends sea^n with an upset and a
second place finish in conference tournament
By Rory Kelly
Staff Writer
QIHCW
The women’s volleyball team
Jefines their season as a success
ifter retiring six seniors, a 25-7
■ecord and second place in the Big
south Conference Tournament.
“We have had an amazing sea-
ion,” said Talia Ogle, senior out
side hitter.
The team expected wins in their
2005 campaign, but the expecta-
ions were limited to what they
relieved to be reasonable goals.
“If you would have told us how
his season would have ended last
spring, we would have all laughed
It you,” said Allison Lambert, sen
ior right side blocker. “We have
tome so far in so many ways.”
The team began playing together
tohesively toward the end of the
season, beating their competitors
5-0 for the last six matches until
hey ultimately lost to Winthrop in
the final conference tournament
natch.
“We played our best and peaked
the very end of the season.
m
(vhich is exactly what you want to
fiappen,” Ogle said.
They took on Liberty in the first
lound of the conference touma-
nent, defeating them in three at
he Justice Center on Nov. 15.
The Bulldogs then took on the No.
2 seed. Coastal Carolina, on their
home court. The Chanticleers had a
^ery successful banquet that night
ivhere the players and the head coach
ok away the top awards.
“Coastal was expected to win,
nd the player of the year and the
boach of the year were both picked
Shay Slifko - Staff Photographer
Rose Butler, senior middle blocker, Megan Murphy, senior libero, and
Elif Unlu, junior outside hitter, work on defense during pracitce.
from their team before the match,”
Ogle said.
The Bulldogs took a few presti
gious awards home as well. Junior
outside hitter for the Bulldogs, Elif
Unlu, took away first team All-
Conference honors.
Senior setter Amanda Wiles was
awarded second team All-
Conference and Rose Butler, sen
ior middle hitter, took All-
Academic team honors.
“We knew we were going to beat
Coastal,” Ogle said.
The Bulldogs defeated the
Chanticleers in three games.
“That was the best feeling to
take out the team who thought they
already had the whole thing won,”
Ogle said.
Unlu tallied 23 kills against
Coastal along with three service
aces and 11 digs. Megan Murphy,
senior defensive specialist, tallied
a team high of 15 digs.
“The Coastal game was honestly
supposed to be our last game,”
Lambert said. “No one ever imag
ined us beating Coastal, because
we lost to them twice during the
regular season.”
The Bulldogs outplayed them in
nearly every category leading the
team into the final game against the
No. 1 seed, the Winthrop Eagles.
The reigning champions for three
years running.
“1 hate that our season ended on
that note because we really have
had a phenomenal season,” Ogle
said.
The Bulldogs walked away with
both Lambert and Unlu making
the All-Tournament Team.
Unlu finished the season leading
the Bulldogs offensively with 476
kills and 35 service aces. Havens led
defensively with 493 digs. Wiles had
1,374 assists. Sophomore middle
blocker Ashley Wrightenbury fin
ished the season leading with 132
total blocks.
“This was truly an amazing
ride,” Lambert said.
Opinion
Elite teams fight for top
spots in the NFL playoffs
By Ben Walsh
Staff Writer
With five weeks left in the NFL
season, certain teams know they
will see the playoffs.
The Indianapolis Colts remain
the team to beat in the AFC. At
11-0, they show no signs of slow
ing down. The NFL will see an
undefeated regular season team
for the first time since the 1972
Dolphins.
The
Denver
Broncos also
do not look
to lose the
rest of the
season. The
Broncos will
win the AFC
West and
capture a
Walsh
first-round bye for the playoffs at
14-2.
The AFC East will remain the
disappointment of the NFL sea
son. The New England Patriots
will beat up on the rest of their
weak division to make the play
offs, but remain a mere shadow
of the former Super Bowl cham
pions.
The Pittsburg Steelers look to
finish the season 12-4 to capture
the AFC North. The Steelers’
Super Bowl hopes rest on the
shoulders of Ben Roethlisberger.
If he does not return to his previ
ous form, the Steelers will exit
the playoffs early.
The Jacksonville Jaguars and
Cincinnati Bengals look to end
with around 11 wins to take the
two AFC wild c;ud spots.
The NFC South contains three
of the most competitive teams in
football.
The Carolina Panthers will
emerge from the pack to win this
competitive division. With their
dominating defense, the Panthers
will ensure that Michael Vick and
the Falcons do not see the play
offs this year.
Tampa Bay lucks out with two
games against the New Orleans
Saints in the last five games. As
long as they wrap up these easy
games, the Buccaneers will see
the playoffs as a wild card.
The NFC East contains two
evenly matched teams. The
Giants and Cowboys sit tied for
the division lead at 7-4. The
Giants can bounce back from a
tough overtime loss to Seattle
and take control of the division,
leaving Dallas to settle for a wild
card spot.
With their overtime win over
the Giants, the Seattle Seahawks
sit four games ahead of the Rams
in the NFC West. The Seahawks
need to play smoother ball and
not rely on the mistakes of the
other team’s kicker if they want
to get a bye in the first round of
the playoffs.
The Chicago Bears won their
seventh straight game and show
no signs of stopping. The Bears
can wrap up the NFC North and a
first round bye.
These teams will ensure anoth
er exciting month of NFL foot
ball.
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By Ingrid Allstaedt
Staff Writer
Surpassing the 1,000th point
mark and earning Big South
K layer of the Week are just two
onors added to senior guard
Kristal Hood’s long list of
iccomplishments.
“When I was 4 years old, my
mom bought me a Michael
Iordan basketball hoop,” said
Hood, co-captain of the
women’s basketball team. “I
have been playing basketball
ever since I can remember.”
Hood, management student,
went over the 1,000th point
mark of her career Nov. 22 at
Gardner-Webb University, and
eceived Big South Player of the
Week for the week of games
played through Nov. 28.
“She is a leader for the team,”
said Stacy Shepard, sophomore
center. “She has always been
our go-to player.”
Hood’s personality is addict
ing, according to Shepard.
“She can make people laugh,”
Shepard said. “She likes to joke
around.”
Hood turns to Adell Harris,
assistant coach, for her growth
as a player.
“Coach Harris has made me
realize that there is more than
just driving to the basket,” Hood
said. “She has taught me that
people will stop me, and I will
have bad games.”
Hood is from Frederick, Md.,
and helped lead Frederick High
School to three championships.
Hood scored 1,082 points dur-
‘ng her high school career, and
set the record for steals in a
game with 12.
Hood found her way to UNCA
"'ith the help of Faisal Khan,
assistant coach.
“In high school, Khan coached
jhe summer league I played on,”
Hood said. “He saw that I was
not signed. He called me up, and
came on an official visit.”
Hood has no set plans after her
graduation in May.
My dream job would be to
keep playing basketball or be a
coach,” Hood said. “If I had the
Opportunity to play basketball
®fter college, then I would in a
heartbeat.”
Men’s basketball
brings in big bucks to
play guarantee games
College Survival Tip #4;
Study physics in a whitewater lab.
By Melissa Deckert
Staff Writer
The men’s basketball team got
paid approximately $100,000 for
playing Georgia Tech and Wake
Forest University in their first two
games of the season.
“These games were two of our
guarantee games, which means
these teams pay us somewhere in
the neighborhood of $50,000 to
come and play them,” said Eddie
Biedenbach, men’s basketball
head coach. “They call them guar
antees because they don’t return
the game, they don’t come here to
play. We just play at their place,
and because they don’t return the
game, they pay us to play there.”
The men’s team has five guaran
tee games this year. The other
three are against North Carolina
State, North Carolina, and UNC -
Charlotte, according to
Biedenbach.
In total, the men’s team will
bring in about $250,000 from these
five guarantee games.
“Those games are good for us
from the standpoint that we have
an opportunity to play big teams in
that arena. If we win our league,
we wind up playing a team like
that in the NCAA tournament,”
Biedenbach said. “It helps us with
recruiting, with our budget for
scholarships, and it helps us with
national recognition.”
The team lost 80-52 against
Georgia Tech after they went on a
14-0 run at the end of the first half.
“We played very hard in the
game, but we didn’t play well at
all,” Biedenbach said. “We didn’t
execute, didn’t make open shots,
didn’t play defenseor offense well,
but we did play hard.”
UNCA was led by Chad Mohn,
senior forward, who had a career
high of 21 points and pulled down
nine rebounds. Oliver Holmes,
senior guard/forward, added 12
points and shot a perfect 8-8 from
the free-throw line.
“We chose to play Georgia Tech
because of Omar Collington,
who’s a senior from that town,”
Biedenbach said. “We like to play
in each of these guy’s towns at
some time during their college
career so their hometown fans can
travel a short distance, rather than
go all the way to Asheville to see
them play.”
After UNCA’s first five points,
Georgia Tech went on a 12-2 run,
getting their lead back up to 52-28.
The Bulldogs could not get any
closer than 24 points the rest of the
game.
“Playing in Atlanta was fun,
because it’s where I’m from and
everybody who hasn’t seen me
play since high school got to come
and watch,” Collington said. “We
were nervous and psyched because
it was the first game of the season.
We played hard, and they just hap
pened to be a little better than us.”
The Bulldogs lost 79-63 against
Wake Forest, before a sold-out
crowd of 14,665 at Joel Coliseum.
“We went in there, we executed
and played very well for 15 min
utes in the first half,” Biedenbach
said. “We took another step up, we
played against a top 25 team and
we played well.”
Wake Forest led 38-29 at half
time with four of UNCA’s starters
on the bench with two fouls each
late in the half.
“We got into foul trouble and it
was difficult,” Biedenbach said.
“Wake shot 14 free throws and we
didn’t shoot any. They were more
aggressive and tried to bully us
more around the basket, but they
were better athletes and so we
fouled them some, but I felt they
fouled us some also.”
In the second half, Asheville got
as close as 45-39 off a layup by
Collington on a turnover.
“They were having some adjust
ments to make anyway and then
coupled with us changing defense,
it put them in a position where they
were unsure of themselves a bit of
the time and that kept us close in
the game,” Biedenbach said.
The Bulldogs were led by Joe
Barber, senior forward/center, with
a game high of 17 points. Holmes
added 11 points and seven
rebounds.
“After the Georgia Tech game,
we wrote down three things we
thought we could improve on for
the Wake game,” Collington said.
“In that game we did those three
things to the best of our ability, and
that kind of explains why we only
lost by 16.”
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